Friday, 4 September 2015

Books to Look Forward to From Severn House

In
this fascinating psychological neo-noir mystery, a notorious late 19th-century
photograph provides the key to a contemporary murder. In 1882, the young Lou
Andreas-Salome, writer, psychoanalyst and femme fatale, appears with Friedrich
Nietzche and another man in a bizarre photograph taken in Luzern, Switzerland.
Over thirty years later, an intense art student in Freud's Vienna presents Lou
Salome with his own drawing based on the infamous photograph. In the present
day, Tess Berenson, a brilliant performance artist, moves into an art deco loft
in downtown Oakland, California. Her new apartment, she learns, was vacated in
a hurry by a professional dominatrix who used the name Chantal Desforges.
Tess's curiosity about Chantal intensifies when her body is discovered in the
trunk of a stolen car at Oakland airport. Embarking on an obsessive
investigation into the murder, Tess discovers a link to the original Luzern
photograph and the 1913 drawing - but as she gets closer to the shocking truth,
Tess finds that she too is in jeopardy.The Luzern Photograph is by William
Bayer and is due to be published in September 2015.

The Blood That Touched is by Peter
Helton and is due to be published in December 2015.A seemingly open-and-shut case becomes
increasingly complicated for Detective Inspector Liam McLusky in this
intriguing police procedural. It all seemed so simple: a murder; an obvious
suspect; a shaky alibi: DI McLusky never had it so good. Until a second killing
challenges all his earlier assumptions. With every new piece of evidence
McLusky brings to light, the case becomes more complicated. Does it have its
roots in a disappearance eighteen years earlier, or is it firmly based in the
present? Meanwhile, DI Kat Fairfield and DS Jack Sorbie are tasked with finding
the daughter of a prominent Italian politician, who has disappeared while on a
student exchange programme at Bristol University. Neither is overjoyed to be
lumbered with a routine missing person's case while McLusky heads a
high-profile murder investigation. Until they find a dead body of their own...

A
routine flight descends into terror in this spine-tingling tale of supernatural
suspense As Oceans Airways flight 582 takes off from LAX Airport, Los Angeles,
headed for Sydney, Australia, passengers and crew prepare themselves for the
14-hour flight, among them flight attendants Sharlene Their and Aaron Drake,
who have recently started dating. But suddenly communication and navigation
systems in the cockpit start malfunctioning: just the start of a series of
inexplicable and terrifying events about to engulf these airborne travellers.
The Boeing 747 has entered strange airways, inhabited by something malicious -
a presence that holds sway over the aircraft. And Sharlene may be the only one
to understand the true nature of the threat...Zone is by Jack Lance and is
due to be published in November 2015.

Lights, Camera, Action is by Marie
Celine and is due to be published in September 2015. Gourmet Pet Chef Kitty
Karlyle must draw on more than her TV presenting skills when the producer of a
new cooking show is found stabbed to death. Pet chef Kitty serves gourmet meals
to pampered canines, cats, birds, snakes (ugh), Vietnamese pot-bellied pigs and
most any other pet belonging to her wealthy and quirky LA clientele. This is a
town where pets have their own psychologists, psychics and masseuses, so why
shouldn't they have their own chefs, right? Kitty finds herself somewhat
reluctantly hosting a new cooking show called 'The Pampered Pet' on CuisineTV.
While shooting the pilot, the show's producer is found in her office with a
knife in her back - one of Kitty's knives, to be exact. The list of suspects is
long and time is short. If Kitty can't find the killer soon, her own goose
might be cooked...

When
a major drugs dealer seeks vengeance for the death of his family, policemen
Harpur and Iles must do all they can to prevent a bloodbath. Following the
murder of his wife and son, tycoon drugs dealer Mansel Shale is determined to
get vengeance - and he wants another drugs baron, Ralph Ember, to help him.
Having heard of the movie Strangers on a Train, in which two men agree to
undertake each other's murders as a way of preventing detection, Shale suggests
he and Ralph should have a similar arrangement - and Ralph is in no position to
refuse. When he learns of the plan, Assistant Chief Constable Desmond Iles
fears that if things go wrong, the hard-won peace he and Harpur have
established in the city will be seriously threatened. The two top policemen
find they have their work cut out to limit the damage and restore tranquillity.First
You Fix Your Alibi is by Bill James and is due to be published in December
2015.

The Herald of Hell is by Paul Doherty
and is due to be published in September 2015.May,

1381. The Great Revolt draws ever nearer. The Upright Men openly
roam the streets of London, waiting for the violence to begin. Their mysterious
envoy, the Herald of Hell, appears at night all over the city, striking terror
into the hearts of those who oppose them. But who is he? When his chancery
clerk is found hanged in a notorious Southwark brothel, the ruthless Thibault,
John of Gaunt's Master of Secrets, summons Brother Athelstan to investigate.
Did Amaury Whitfield really kill himself following a visit from the terrifying
Herald of Hell? Athelstan is unconvinced. In the dead man's possession was a
manuscript containing a great secret which he had been striving to decipher. If
he could only unlock the cipher and interpret the messages being carried to the
so-called Herald of Hell, Athelstan would be one step closer to catching the
killer. But can he crack the code before the Great Revolt begins?

Cold Florida is by Phillip Depoy and is
due to be published in November 2015.Introducing
former car thief and amateur sleuth Foggy Moskowitz in the first of a brand-new
noir mystery series. It's 1974. Foggy Moskowitz, a Jewish car thief on the run
from the Brooklyn authorities, ends up in Florida working for the first office
of Child Protective Service. For personal reasons. An unlikely, but tenacious,
child protection officer, he takes on an investigation to find a missing
infant, taken from the hospital by her addict mother. But the case takes
several unexpected turns as Foggy makes his way from seedy Fry's Bay to Indian
Seminole swampland, undertaking a vision quest, a rite of passage in some
Native American cultures, in the process. Along the way he encounters more than
a few interesting characters, including John Horse, an Indian mystic, and works
to foil a vast land-grab scam by an uber-rich felon.

Skeleton Blues is by Paul Johnston and
is due to be published in December 2015.Ex-cop Quint Dalrymple discovers there is something very rotten in the
independent city-state of Edinburgh in this near-future dystopian thriller.
Edinburgh, spring 2034. The weather's balmy, there's a referendum on whether to
join a reconstituted Scotland coming up - and a tourist is found strangled. As
usual, maverick detective Quint Dalrymple is called in to do the Council of
City Guardians' dirty work. For the first time in his career, Quint is stumped
by the complexity of the case. An explosion at the City Zoo is followed by the
discovery of another body - and the prime suspect is nowhere to be found. Can
Quint and his sidekick, Guard commander Davie, put a stop to the killings
before the city erupts into open violence? Are the leaders of other Scottish
states planning to take over Edinburgh, or is the source of unrest much closer
to home? Quint must race to pull the threads together before he becomes one of
the numerous skeletons on display...

This
is a darkly humorous noir mystery featuring laidback, guitar-playing private
investigator Rolly Waters. Rolly Waters has many reasons to regret going out
for Mexican food at 2.30 in the morning. Not least because then he would never
have met dance-club DJ Macy Starr - possibly the most infuriatingly
unpredictable and secretive client he has ever taken on. Macy Starr wants Rolly
to find out what happened to the young woman she knew as Aunt Betty, the woman
who rescued her as a child and who then disappeared without trace. The only
clue she has to go on is a curious one-stringed guitar. Rolly's investigation
leads to a weird world of alien-obsessed cults, a strange desert hideaway known
as Slab City - and to a 20-year-old unsolved murder case. But how can he solve
the mystery if he can't even trust his own client?Desert
City Diva is by Corey Lynn Fayman and is due to be published in September
2015.

Skin Like Silver is by Chris Nickerson
and is due to be published in November 2015.The third intriguing historical mystery to feature Detective Inspector
Tom Harper Leeds, England. October, 1891. An unclaimed parcel at the Central
Post Office is discovered to contain the decomposing body of a baby boy. It's a
gruesome case for DI Tom Harper. Then a fire during the night destroys half the
railway station. The next day a woman's body is found in the rubble. But
Catherine Carr didn't die in the blaze: she'd been stabbed to death - and
Harper has to find her killer. The estranged wife of a wealthy industrialist,
Catherine had been involved with the Leeds Suffragist Society, demanding votes
for women, the same organization for which Harper's wife Annabelle has just
become a speaker. Were Catherine's politics the cause of her death? Or is the
husband she abandoned behind it? But when her brother escapes from the asylum
and steals a shotgun, Harper has to race to find the answers.

Fatal Catch is by Pauline Rowson and is
due to be published in September 2015.Trust
no one. Believe nothing...DI Andy Horton is called out to examine a gruesome
catch by two fishermen: a human hand. Is it that of missing violent criminal,
Alfie Wright - or is he the killer? And where is the rest of the corpse? Soon
Horton finds himself immersed in a complex case where everyone has a reason to
lie and no one is who they seem. Assailed by doubts both in his personal and
professional life, Horton desperately tries to keep his emotional feelings
under control and his focus on his work. His instincts tell him to trust no one
and believe nothing; he's not sure, though, whether this time he'll succeed...

Bitter Poison is by Margaret Mayhew and
is due to be published in December 2015.The Colonel turns reluctant sleuth once more when tragedy strikes at a
Christmas party, in Margaret Mayhew's latest atmospheric village mystery Frog
End, that most quintessential of English villages, is preparing for its annual
Christmas pantomime. This year, it's Hans Christian Andersen's dark fairytale
The Snow Queen. Local busybody Marjorie Cuthbertson is on the hunt for her
leading lady - and who better to play the icy queen than beautiful new
resident, ex-model Joan Dryden. But as interested as they are in their new
neighbours, the residents of Frog End remain wary of the Dryden family,
considering them aloof Londoners. Mystery is about to engulf the village
however when a cast member collapses and dies at a Christmas party, having
consumed a rogue mince pie. Was the death an accident - or was it a malicious
revenge strategy masked as an allergic reaction? The Colonel makes it his
business to find out.

The Killing in the Café is by Simon
Brett and is due to be published in November 2015. The

wickedly entertaining
new Fethering mystery featuring chalk-and-cheese detective duo Carole and Jude.
Polly's Cake Shop has been a feature of the shopping parade for many years, but
when its owner announces her retirement, the Fethering residents start to worry
about the loss of this popular amenity. Alarmed by rumours that the cafe might
become a Starbucks, a group clubs together to form the Save Polly's Cake Shop
Action Committee. The plan is that Polly's should become a community venture,
managed and run by volunteers from the village. Roped in to help, Jude finds the
committee meetings fraught with petty power struggles, clashing personalities
and monstrous egos. Matters take a turn for the worse when she and Carole come
across a badly-decomposed body on Fethering beach - and uncover a link to
Polly's. Not only do the two neighbours have to find out whodunit, they are
also faced with the thorny question: is it possible to run a business on that
most volatile of commodities - goodwill?

1940s,
Washington DC. Government girl Louise gets her big chance, when she is tasked
with recruiting German POWs for a secret mission inside Nazi Germany Government
girl Louise Pearlie has a new job inside the OSS - the Office of Strategic
Services: recruiting German prisoners-of-war for a secret mission inside Nazi
Germany. It's a big chance for her, and Louise hopes she can finally escape her
filing and typing duties. With the job come two new colleagues: Alice Osborne,
a propaganda expert, and Merle Ellison, a forger from Texas who just happens to
speak fluent German. But when the three arrive at Fort Meade camp, to interview
the first German POWs to arrive there, their mission is beset by complications.
Only one of the prisoners speaks English, the army officer in charge of the
camp is an alcoholic and two prisoners disappeared on the ship bringing the Germans
to the states. Were their deaths suicide? Officially, yes. But Louise can't
help but have her doubts...Louise’s Chance is by Sarah R Saber and
is due to be published in September 2015.

Mara,
Brehon of the Burren, must battle superstitious beliefs and fears as she sets
out to solve a brutal murder. When a woman's body is discovered, strangled and
bound with rope to the stone torso of Far Breige, the ancient stone god which
stands sentinel above the haunted caves and ancient fortifications of the
Atlantic cliffs, the locals believe it was the god who killed her. In life,
Clodagh O'Lochlainn had been a disgrace to her clan, tormenting her former
priestly lover, jeering at her husband, robbing her relatives: but could she
really have been slaughtered by a vengeful god, as the local population
believes? Abandoning preparations for the celebration of her fiftieth birthday,
Mara, Brehon of the Burren, with the assistance of Fachtman and her scholars,
takes up the task of solving the murder. Ignoring the ancient legends, she
concentrates instead on bringing a mortal killer to justice. But it's only when
Fachtman's small daughter is lost in the labyrinth of passages among the caves
that the horrifying truth begins to emerge.A Fatal Inheritance is by Caro
Harrison and is due to be published in November 2015.

Onslaught by Nick Oldham and is due to
be published in December 2015. Introducing tough-as-nails former Royal Marine,
ex-cop and sport fishing skipper Steve Flynn in the first of a brand-new series
of exciting action thrillers. When he is accused of murdering his boss, sport
fishing captain Steve Flynn finds that his idyllic life in the Canary Islands
has suddenly lost its charm. Arrested by a tenacious - and corrupt - Spanish
detective, Flynn knows he is facing a grim future unless he can somehow prove
his innocence. Matters take a turn for the worse however when Flynn's ex-girlfriend
is kidnapped and her life used as a bargaining chip. The only way Flynn can
save her is to pull out all the stops, re-hone his old policing and military
skills, and put himself in the firing line against a murderous gang for whom
violent death is a way of life.

Introducing
Blackie, an unusual feline hero, and his companion Care in the first of this
dark new mystery series. Three figures, shadowy against the light. That's all I
remember from my past life, as I am dragged, dripping and half-drowned, from
the flood. My saviour, a strange, pink-haired girl, is little help. She can
barely care for herself, let alone the boy she loves. And although she has
sworn to avenge the murder of her mentor, she must first escape the clutches of
drug dealers, murderers and thieves. I would repay her kindness if I could. But
we are alone in this blighted city - and I am a cat. The past is an enigma to
Blackie, the voice of Clea Simon's dark new mystery. Combining elements of
feline fantasy and cozy whodunit, The Ninth Life introduces this unusual hero
and his companion, Care: two small creatures in a nightmarish urban landscape,
fighting for their lives, and for the lives and memories of those they love. The Ninth Life is by Clea Simon and is
due to be published in November 2015.

The Case of The Missing Morris Dancer is
by Cathy Ace and is due to be published in October 2015 The Women of the WISE
Enquiries Agency are back in a witty and intriguing new mystery. The Anwen
Morris Dancers are to play a pivotal role in the imminent nuptials of Henry,
eighteenth Duke of Chellingworth. But it looks as though the wedding plans
might go awry unless Mavis, Annie, Carol and Christine can help Althea, the
Dowager Duchess, by finding a missing Morris man and a set of ancient and
valuable artefacts in time for her son's wedding. Anwen-by-Wye might look like
an idyllic Welsh village where family values reign and traditions still mean
something in a modern world, but what will the WISE women find when they peer
behind the respectable net curtains?

DCI
Peach and DS Northcott investigate a murder at an exclusive tennis club
Detective Sergeant Clyde Northcott - DCI Peach's tall, black, powerful protege
- has no interest in joining the snooty Birch Lane Tennis Club. So it is
unfortunate for him when committee member Olive Crawshaw decides he would be
the perfect talisman for the club's new, and controversial, policy to recruit
members from a wider ethnic and social background. Clyde soon finds himself
thrust into an exclusive community where his rusty tennis skills are the least
of his concerns: for 'exclusive' does not mean moral, and while some of the
club's members sail very near the law, one or two of them go far beyond it. So
when a distinguished club member is murdered, a problem arises: how can he and
Peach unveil the killer, when almost everyone seemed to want the victim dead?Backhand Smash is by J M Gregson and is due
to be published in November 2015.

American
Anglophile Dorothy Martin tackles a tricky puzzle in the historic university
town of Cambridge Dorothy Martin isn't overly enthusiastic when her husband,
retired police detective Alan Nesbitt, invites her to accompany him to a
conference in Cambridge, picturing cramped student accommodation. But St
Stephen's turns out to be recently renovated, and, bolstered by en suite
facilities, Dorothy is looking forward to exploring the historic and beautiful
city. It is not long, though, before disaster strikes: lost in the maze of
college buildings, Dorothy stumbles into a laboratory...and is shocked to find
what looks like a pool of blood on the floor. She flees, to fetch help, but
when Alan checks it out, there is nothing to be found. Was she mistaken? Or has
a terrible crime been committed? Dorothy, who can never resist a puzzle,
determines to find out.Blood Will Tell is by Jeanne M Dams and
is due to be published in October 2015.

Villere in the first of a brand-new series of fast-paced action thrillers. When
her local District Attorney offers her a considerable sum of money to track
down state witness Crawford Wynne, private investigator Tess Grey is in no
position to refuse. Wynne is one of the few men still alive who can help the
State nail vicious drug lord Albert Suarez. But Tess is not the only one trying
to track Wynne down. Suarez's psychotic brother Hector has been hunting and
butchering anyone who is a danger to his brother. Tess needs help and there's
only one man she can turn to: Southern renegade ex-con Nicolas Villere, known
to all as Po. Po always gets his man, but he has never been teamed with a woman
before. Both have their own agenda for taking on this case, and neither fully trusts
the other. But of one thing they are sure: if they don't cover each other's
backs, they are both going to die.Blood Tracks is by Matt Hilton and is
due to be published in November 2015.

One Under is by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles
and is due to be published in October 25. For a policeman, there are some
questions that have to be asked even if you don't want to know the answers...A
middle-aged man jumps under a tube train at Shepherd's Bush station, and a
teenage girl is killed in a hit-and-run, in a country lane puzzlingly far from
her home on the White City Estate: two unrelated incidents which occupy DCI
Bill Slider and his team during a slack period. At least it's a change of speed
after the grind of domestics, burglaries and Community Liaison. But links to a
cold case - another dead teenager, pulled out of the River Thames - create
doubts as to whether they are indeed unrelated. And slowly a trail of
corruption and betrayal is uncovered, leading Slider and his firm ever deeper
into a morass of horror.

Detective
Inspector Hardcastle ruffles feathers in a sleepy Hampshire village, when he
investigates the murder of a local girl August 1917. The head of the CID at
Scotland Yard sends Divisional Detective Inspector Ernest Hardcastle and
Detective Sergeant Charles Marriott of the Whitehall Division of the
Metropolitan Police to a small Hampshire village, to investigate the murder of
a local girl. For once, Hardcastle has plenty of suspects. Was the murderer one
of Daisy Salter's many suitors? Was it the shifty individual who left the local
pub and disappeared the moment he saw Hardcastle? Or could it have been Daisy's
own father? In an entirely different world from London, Hardcastle is forced to
adapt to the slower pace of country life, and he soon finds he is ruffling
feathers as he carries out his investigations in his own inimitable fashion.Hardcastle’s
Collector is by Graham Ison and is due to be published in October 2015.

The
Bell Tower is by Sarah Rayne and is due to be published in October 2015.A 400-year-old crime continues to menace the
present in this spine-chilling tale of supernatural suspense. When Nell West
starts extending her Oxford antiques shop, she is not expecting to uncover
strange fragments of its past: fragments that include a frightened message
scribbled on old plasterwork, dated 1850 and referring to someone called
Thaisa. She also uncovers a mysterious link with a village on the Dorset coast
- a village with an ancient bell tower and dark memories of a piece of music
known locally as Thaisa's Song. The sea is gradually encroaching on the
derelict tower, but the old Glaum Bell still hangs in the lonely bell chamber
and although it was silenced after an act of appalling brutality during the
reign of Henry VIII, local people whisper that its chime is still occasionally
heard. As Nell and Michael Flint discover, the tower is mysteriously entangled
with the story of Thaisa and a 400-year-old tragedy that has echoed down the
centuries.

In Vino Veritas is by Peter Turnbull and
is due to be published in November 2015.A tip-off leading to the discovery of a young woman's body throws Harry
Vicary and his team into another perplexing murder investigation. 'Big Andy'
Cragg's drunken disclosure to an undercover police officer in a West London pub
that he was once party to the disposal of the body of a murder victim sets a
sinister and disturbing chain of events in motion for Harry Vicary and his
team. A body is found exactly where Cragg said it would be, and the consequent
investigation plunges Vicary into a labyrinth world of contract killings,
witness intimidation and large-scale money laundering. Can he piece together
the clues to uncover why a young woman was so brutally murdered?

Carl
Burns returns to his hometown to uncover a viper's nest of corruption and dark
secrets in this tense and twisting novel of suspense: first in a brand-new
series. After ten years' absence and a spell in prison, Carl Burns has returned
to his hometown of Rose City to offer support to his estranged daughter Kate,
currently one of four witnesses testifying against former Mayor Joseph
Sanderson III, who stands accused of multiple counts of underage rape. Carl is
determined to get justice for Kate, whatever it takes. But with his former
sister-in-law Frances his only ally, he finds himself incurring the wrath of
powerful enemies as he attempts to uncover the shocking truth beneath the
layers of corruption and lies which engulf the town.Rough
Justice is by Brad Smith and is due to be published in October 2015.

Thicker Than Water is by Sally Spencer
and is due to be published in October 2015.DCI Monika Paniatowski investigates a case that could be the making -
or, more likely, breaking - of her career DCI Monika Paniatowski has only been
back from maternity leave for three days when she is called in to investigate a
nightmare of a case. Not only is the murder victim a mother of three small
children, but her husband is a wealthy politician. Monika knows that if she
can't make a quick arrest her career is on the line. It's lucky, then, that
within minutes of meeting Councillor Danbury, she has a bruised face - and a
prime suspect. But then the case takes a nasty twist, and suddenly the
investigation is national news. Monika's sure she has the right man - but how
to prove it? Particularly when she's under pressure from her superiors to
arrest anyone other than Councillor Danbury, president of the golf club and
friend of her chief constable...

A
medieval mystery featuring disgraced knight Crispin Guest London, 1388. When
the mythical Stone of Destiny disappears from the throne of England during mass
in Westminster Abbey, the populace takes it as a sign to side with King Richard
II's rebellious barons. The last thing the king needs is for his authority to
be put in question, especially after his army suffers a crushing defeat against
a Scottish uprising. Desperate, Richard calls in Crispin Guest to find the
missing stone. And to ensure that he will do the deed, the king imprisons Jack
Tucker and orders Crispin to find the stone before Parliament convenes in a
week's time - or Jack will hang for treason.The Silence of Stones is by
Jeri Westerton and is due to be published in October 2015.

This
lively cozy, set in small town California, is the second in the Mary McGill dog
mystery series. Preparations for Santa Louisa's annual spring rummage sale are
thrown into chaos when organiser Mary McGill and her devoted cocker spaniel
Millie come across a dead body on the premises. Still wearing her pink
nightdress and slippers, what on earth was Miss Emilie Plym doing in a locked
church hall in the dead of night? And who on earth would want to harm a
sweet-natured but confused elderly lady who wouldn't hurt a fly? As Mary
questions the victim's nearest and dearest, she discovers that not everyone had
Miss Plym's best interests at heart, and that at least one of those who should
have been caring for her is hiding a shocking secret.Curtains for Miss Plym is
by Kathleen Delaney and is due to be published in November 2015.

The
intriguing, witty and irreverent new mystery featuring Ancient Roman sleuth
Marcus Corvinus. May, AD 41. The emperor Claudius has acceded to the throne,
and the citizens of Rome look forward to an era of peace and stability. Not so
Marcus Corvinus however, who finds himself embroiled in not one but two
investigations. A friend of his wife has asked him to look into the murder of
her brother, found stabbed to death at the Shrine of Melobosis. A wily
businessman and notorious womaniser, no one seems to have a good word to say
about Gaius Tullius, not even his less-than-grieving widow. But who would have
a good enough reason to want him dead? At the same time, Corvinus's daughter
comes across a dead body in the Pollio Gardens, and urges her father to
investigate. At first Marcus refuses to get involved - but when his enquiries
lead him to Ostia, Rome's busy trading port, he uncovers a disturbing
connection between the two deaths.Trade Secrets is by David Wishart and is
due to be published in October 2015.

The
murder of a student re-opens a series of cold cases in this intriguing mystery.
A young student is found brutally murdered in her room, killed while her
flatmates slept nearby. The police soon recognize that this is frighteningly
similar to a crime committed fifteen years before. A crime investigated by the
now discredited Detective Inspector Joe Jackson, but never solved. Other
deaths, linked to the same modus operandi and stretching back more than twenty
years, have also remained unsolved. No link has been found between the victims
- but it seems Joe Jackson had a perpetrator in mind. He had however been
unable to prove his guilt. Can the new investigation trust the judgement of a
man who was himself a killer? Or did that give Naomi Blake's one-time friend and
mentor an insight his colleagues did not have?A Murderous Mind is by Jane A
Adams and is due to be published in November 2015.

Private
investigator Patrick de Courvoisier unearths a shocking wartime secret in this
stylish Cannes-based mystery series. Brother Robert from the abbey on St
Honorat, a picturesque island off the French coast, has requested Patrick de
Courvoisier's help in locating a valuable painting which has disappeared from
the monastery's vaults. At the same time, an old enemy from Patrick's past has
arrived in Cannes in search of a different stolen painting. As it becomes
increasingly clear that the two investigations are linked, Patrick's enquiries
lead him to uncover a shocking wartime secret: a secret the British Royal
family would prefer to keep hidden...The case of the Missing Madonna is by
Lin Anderson and is due to be published in September 2015.

Next of Kin is by Maureen Carter and is
due to be published in November 2015.Ice-cool
Detective Inspector Sarah Quinn and fiery reporter Caroline King lock horns
once again in this latest intriguing mystery. When the body of a teenage girl
is found in a local park, it is assumed she is the latest victim of a serial
sex offender who has been plaguing the area. But when it transpires that the
dead girl's best friend is missing, DI Sarah Quinn is drawn into a complex
murder investigation where nothing is as it seems. With the investigation
heading nowhere - not helped by the hostility of the victim's distraught
father, nor by Sarah's unsympathetic new Chief Superintendent who seems
determined to undermine her - a shocking turn of events leads Sarah to question
her own judgement. And that's before she encounters her old foe, calculating
journalist Caroline King...

False Wall is by Veronica Heley and is
due to be published in December 2015.Bea
Abbot discovers that at least one of her neighbours is hiding a shocking secret
in the latest intriguing Abbot Agency mystery When the party wall dividing the
gardens of Bea Abbot and her fiance Leon collapses, amongst the ensuing chaos a
human skeleton is unearthed in Leon's garden. Having only just purchased the
property, Leon and Bea set out to discover more about the house's previous
owners. Before they can proceed in their investigation however, the pair fall
victim to an elaborately-laid trap. With her home, livelihood and the agency
under threat, Bea appears to be the subject of a meticulously-planned vendetta.
But why? And why is Leon becoming strangely distant?